No, no offense taken, none intended. You expressed an opinion and I did too. Our readers can enjoy the conversation and take from it what they will.
Dan, Let me explain why I keep learning to do such basic things and why ETHANOL is crucialā¦
Iām not too sure how long the world can continue on itās current path with every 1st world nation running huge deficitsā¦ How long til financial implosion?
With Iran being about 2.5 minutes away from creating and atomic weaponā¦ how long til an EMP takes out every known electrical component?
Somebody has got to āre-start the engine of the worldā¦ā Iām prepared to be that guy
So distilling ethanol for use in internal combustion engine will be crucial!!! When you watch post-apocalyptic films and wonder what they are fuelling the vehicles with: itās ethanol.
Engines run generatorsā¦ generators run computersā¦ computers run X-carveā¦
Yep, Iām a prepperā¦
Why bother with ethanol? Seems like if you are a serious prepper you would just build a wood gas generator like the rest of us.
Problem with ethanol production under such conditions, of course, is that you need effectively a high-sugar feedstock for the process, which means corn or something similar. Probably going to be fairly hard to get. Iād think an external-combustion system like a Sterling or a double-acting steam engine would be much more practical as far as motive power goes. Particularly in that it would be entirely suited (through appropriate gearing, perhaps salvaged from a vehicle) to spin a generator for lighting / communication gear. The tolerance range for a steam engine, particularly, is much larger both in terms of fuel suitability and machining than any internal-combustion system.
Sugar is easier to come by than you thinkā¦ We grow it down here - sugar cane, that isā¦ every āgood olā boyā with a few acres usually plants a couple of stalksā¦ you can literally just cut it open and lick/gnaw the syrup like candy - we did it as kids all the timeā¦ Usually the stalks are pressed and the syrup collected and sold in cansā¦ it can also be boiled until all the water is removed and you have sugar crystalsā¦ itās pretty raw, but it would definitely excite the yeast enough to get ethanol.
Butā¦
YOU ARE RIGHT in saying that a Watts-type engine is simpler to make, but dangerous - which brings me to my fascination with the Sterling engineā¦ I never got one to work because my machining skills are just not good enough! Enter: Computer Numeric Control!!
one of the long list of reasons I bought an x-carveā¦
not a bad plan, eitherā¦ I knew there was a 20hp tractor that ran off wood-gas that was promoted by the Civil Defence back in the 60ās, but Iāve never found oneā¦
My āalternative energyā interest has always been fuelled by my grandfatherās stories of Volkswagens that the Nazis had in 1944 and 1945 that ran off āanything that would burn.ā It was MANY years later that I discovered not only was he telling the truth, but the Volkswagens ran a Sterling engine - 40hp if memory serves me correctlyā¦ I even wrote an e-mail to Volkswagen asking for more information, but they either could not or would not give me anything to work withā¦ Just a lot of āPRā crap about trying new technology for the last 100 years to improve the quality of todayās engineā¦ blahā¦blahā¦blah. Basically the letter said: āyou donāt want to go there!ā
I want to get a real sterling engine to workā¦ and i need the x-carve to get me there (and do other stuff, too)
Any gas internal combustion engine can easily be converted to burn wood gas
Inventables decided to offer The Vcarve Desktop software. The email I received says they are pricing it at $349 (same price Vectric sells it for) but the X-Carve configuration page lists it for $329 ($20 savings).
EDIT
It looks like the price is $329 if purchased with an X-Carve and $349 if purchased separately. .
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